From the Chicago Sun-Times: Entering Saturday night, the Cubs had 27 steal attempts in 23 games. Only San Francisco (33) and Houston (30) had more in the National League. That puts the Cubs on pace for 190 attempts this season.

They've also been thrown out more than 1/3 of the time, but their manger is undeterred:

''A lot of good things are happening that basically are not noticed by the casual fan,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''Pitchers are slide-stepping against us a lot more. Infielders are holding runners, which is creating more holes. And catchers are calling more fastballs. Those are some pretty good advantages that you don't see necessarily.''

Not sure what the merits of Piniella's claim are, but either way, this is good news if you own Fukudome, Theriot, Lee, Reed Johnson, Felix Pie, Alfonso Soriano (assuming his legs get back to full strength) or anyone else who might run.

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